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Den Røde Stolen Gratis samtaleterapi for ungdom mellom 12 og 24 år i Arendal

Audun Taraldsen

Den Røde Stolen - Gratis samtaleterapi for ungdom mellom 12 og 24 år i Arendal

Den Røde Stolen

My Story

I have always been passionate about technology!

And I have been very lucky to pursue this passion for the last 20-years, building innovative high-tech solutions that solve business problems for my clients.

The Commodore 64 and having “Hello World” scroll across the screen was cool in 1984 but my fascination with technology really started at Carleton University in 1993 when I interviewed a hacker group in Ottawa, Canada. They showed me how to access the telecom network and get free phone calls to Norway. Kaboom…I was hooked! So, I obsessively started building my own computers and modifying software. At Arizona State University (ASU) in 1994, I started a local networking group and we developed a TCP/IP program to get access to the university’s restricted Internet. Ah, the magic of Gopher and “surfing” the web using arrow keys. And then installing Mosaic and for the first time discovering the spinning globe, HTML, and the World Wide Web. Those were the good, old days:–)

To pay for an exceedingly expensive hardware and software habit, I worked as a journalist, designed and built websites on the side. In 1997 I worked for Scala in Oslo as a researcher and database developer and I fell in love with Digital Signage.

The same year, I started graduate school at ASU and worked as a teaching- and research assistant for Pulitzer Price winning journalist Steve Doig. With a $20,000 IT budget per year, I purchased servers, built and managed the department’s website, created the school’s first online classes, and streamed live video of events, including the first online broadcast of legendary journalist Walter Cronkite.

My research focused on digital signage and IT. I graduated in 1999 and started NORVISION right out of school. To fund the start-up, I worked as an IT Consultant, web developer, and Creative Director for a local software development company.

In 2002 I met with Dan Harkins, owner of Harkins Theatres (fifth largest movie theatre chain in the U.S), and presented a digital signage solution for his theatres.

He said he was willing to buy if I could prove a 20%+ increase in concession sales. We agreed on a 90-day pilot program. I borrowed $70,000, installed screens and media players at 3 movie theatre locations in Phoenix, built the network, managed the content and provided technical support. After 90-days, we ran the data: 35% increase in concession sales, a huge reduction in printing costs and labor, and a significant new revenue stream from 3rd party advertisers. Over the next years, a total of 29 theater locations around the US were outfitted with state-of-the-art digital signage and service contracts. [ProAv Article]

With Harkins as a model, I expanded NORVISION into the healthcare market (Banner Health, Catholic Healthcare West), providing a wide range of digital signage solutions for hospital networks in Arizona. The focus of the business has been health-care, entertainment, retail, and the trade-show industry. For the last couple of years, we have been pioneering “Intelligent Digital Signage” using optical sensors to trigger ads based on age and gender, page tracking for interactive systems, and advanced cloud-based analytics to learn viewer behavior.

My main role as Chief Technical Officer was to provide the organization with a 5-year technology roadmap and oversee the development of new technology. I was responsible for all technology policy and related matters such as research and development (R&D), strategy, planning, implementation, deployment, and operational management.

With more than 15-years of high-tech innovation experience, I have designed (Sketchup Pro & Visio) most of the advanced solutions for our clients. My daily duties were overseeing the Operations Department and providing technical guidance to executives, sales, and marketing personnel. [Interview]

Having kids, it was time to move back to Norway after 21-years in the US. I have to admit it was a little strange moving back to my birth-town of Arendal. I was lucky enough to get a job at Atea as a Digital Signage Specialist and I commuted between Arendal and Oslo every other week. It was a great transition for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the fast pace and the people I worked with.

After 5-years at Atea, I decided to slow down. The commute was getting tiring. Then an ad popped up on my phone, “Team Leader for Management Reporting” at Gard AS, one of the few international companies in Arendal. I spent the weekend writing a cover letter and sent it in. The rest is history. I am now the Team Leader for what must be the greatest datawarehouse team in the world. We have worked hard to migrate the old, on-prem datawarehouse to the cloud and finished the project on time and on budget. What a journey it has been. At 50-years-old, I must say I am happy about the first half of my life.

My latest passion is giving back to the community, especially the young. In 2019 I started my 4-year education as a Gestalt-therapist and I am offering free talk-therapy for youth in the Arendal area. It is called “Den Røde Stolen – Gratis samtaleterapi og veiledning for ungdom i Arendal” or “The Red Chair – Free talk therapy and Counceling for youth in the Arendal area.”

“I have not failed.
I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

– Thomas A. Edison

Career

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Recycling bottles
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Mowing lawns
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Windsurfer, Australia
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Journalist, Grimstad Adressetidende
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Journalist, Stavanger Aftenblad
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Research Assistant, ASU
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IT Consultant, Egg Systems
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Creative Director, Inteflux
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CTO, NORVISION
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Digital Signage Specialist, Atea AS
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Team Leader, Gard AS
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Gestalt Therapist

Clients

bcbs110frys110io110sch110suns110wag110 azr110chw110bh110dignity110esser110ebl110 geo110halle110lavidge110ogilvy110ikea110pg110 swe110usaf110tgen110palomar110harkins110barrett110 rs110asu110kroger110cliff110intel110

Testimonials

This note is to acknowledge that Audun Taraldsen worked with me as my teaching and research assistant, including duties as webmaster and network administrator, from June 1997 to July 1999.

Prof. Stephen K. Doig, Knight Chair in Journalism. Arizona State University

“In addition to a can-do attitude and timely first class service, Mr. Taraldsen has provided our movie theaters with a very effective digital dynamic signage solution which has increased our concession sales, lowered print costs and improved our branding effort.”

Dan Harkins, CEO and Owner, Harkins Theatres

“IO is very happy with the work that was produced for this project. It was a big success at Gartner and got rave reviews from the industry, our prospects, customers and internal team.”

Jason Ferrara, VP Marketing, I/O Datacenters

Education

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Arendal Gymnas
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Officer training Norwegian Navy
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Carleton University, Canada
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Bachelor’s Degree Arizona State University
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Master’s Degree Arizona State University
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Gestalt Therapist

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure
with no loss of enthusiasm.”

― Winston S. Churchill

Foto: Yousuf Karsh, The Roaring Lion, 30. desember 1941 i Ottawa

Blog

1206, 2014

Digital Signage 2014 – Grocery Retail Review

About 5-years ago, I presented a white-paper to several large grocery retailers in the US outlining where several technologies were merging to create a “new and improved” shopping experience.

I recently re-read the white-paper and have scratched my head since wondering why adoption of new technology is so slow in certain […]

1206, 2014

Best Sci-fi “Dead Mech” (Apex Trilogy)

One of the most intriguing sci-fi books I have read recently is “Dead Mech” (Apex Trilogy) by Jake Bible.

I read a lot of sci-fi. About one book a week. Thanks to my Kindle I get instant sci-fi gratification. Once in a while there are books that hit your […]

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Hobbies

Play with son

Open Water Swimming

Hiking

Yoga

Read Sci-fi

Write

Bike

Meditate

Cook

Make Espresso

Travel

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

– Arthur C. Clarke

Copyright © 2021 | Audun Taraldsen | All Rights Reserved | +47 945 29 689 | [email protected]

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